The conservation and restoration initiative that Rewilding Argentina Foundation carries out in Parque Iberá, with the support of Ternium, Tenaris and Tecpetrol, was selected as one of the seven best models of environmental conservation worldwide.
Rewinding Argentina is an organization that promotes the creation and preservation of protected natural areas in several geographical regions of Argentina and Chile.
The award is for the initiative “The Last Wild Places”, that aims to have, by the year 2030, 30% of the world’s surface protected under sustainable development systems. In favor of this objective, National Geographic Society identified good examples of organizations that work in the area and that manage successful models of conservation and restoration of ecosystems and of development of local economies: one of the selected ones was the Rewinding project in the Iberá Park in Corrientes.
Ternium, Tenaris, and Tecpetrol have contributed to this effort made by many public and private actors offering to pipe, galvanized sheets, and transport. Specifically, Ternium’s (Haedo plant) steel, together with Tenaris and Tecpetrol pipes, allowed the construction of fences in the Reinsertion Center of the jaguar in the Iberá Wetlands. This significant milestone will enable the project to be in conditions of liberating the first two specimens born in this installation during the current year.
“When this happens, decades later, the ecosystem will have finally recovered the top predators of its chain and will finally begin, in a progressive way, to function at its peak,” stated Sofia Heinonen, executive director of Rewinding Foundation Argentina, in a thank-you letter sent to Paolo Rocca, CEO at Tenaris.
New projects, more support
The Rewinding Foundation Argentina aims this 2020 to be a hinge for Iberá Wetlands during which, along with the jaguar, they reinsert other vital species such as the giant otter, the anteater, the macaw, the bare-faced curassow and the collared peccary.
For this reason, Tenaris donate 954 nine meters long tubes for several projects: the building of pens, a ramp assembly for repairing vehicles, the installation of wiring, and the repair docks.
“As Techint Organization, we are very proud to have been a fundamental part of this unique project where steel plays a fundamental role. It is a ‘Jurassic Park’ to reintroduce species that went extinct, a Nobel prize in conservation,” says Jose Fonrouge, director of Environment in Ternium.
“Even in a deep crisis context caused by the pandemic, it makes us proud to keep helping with steel materials which play a key role in the execution of biodiversity conservation projects and especially in those that deal with the reintroduction of species for the restoration of the Iberá Wetlands,” says Javier Martinez Alvares, president of Tenaris at Cono Sur.
National Geographic magazine dedicated an extensive coverage of the project in Iberá Park. Click here to read the article or here to watch the documentary.